Filing or indexing appliance



Aug. 7, 1928.

W nMcFALL FILING 0R INDEXING APPLIANCE I Filed Oct. 2, 1925 PatentedAug. 7, 1928.

UNITED STATES rare NT O F iFt-CE.

WILLARD n. MGFALL, or 'EA'ST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

FILING OR INDEXING APPLIANCE.

Application filed October 2, 1925. serial'no. 60,040.

- embody features of constructionwhereby a misplaced or improperly filedcard or envelopecanbe quickly located at any point in the set withoutindividually examining each card or envelope.

Further objects are to provide such a filing system and applianceembodying a novel and improved set of cards or envelopes and an indexmember to cooperate therewith; to provide a filing or index systemcomprising a set of cards or envelopes divided into a pluralityof seriesor groups, said cards or envelopes embodying novel and improved featuresof construction whereby each is identified with its particulargroup anddistinguished from all other groups, and to obtain other results andadvantages as may be brought out by the following description.

For the purpose of illustrating theprinciples of the invention, in theaccompanying drawings Ihave shown the same applied to a. known filingsystem, but it will be understood that the invention is susceptible ofuse in connection with other filing systems without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention.

Referring to said drawings, in which corresponding and like parts aredesignated throughout the several views by the same referencecharacters,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a file drawer and a plurality ofenvelopes for classifying and filing information or data, and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the envelopes. v

The systemof filing illustrated comprises the use of a file box, draweror like container 1 and a plurality of envelopes or folders 2 which areadapted to receive papers or other data 3 and beplaced in the draweror'box .1 in numerical order, "each of the envelopesorfolderslncludingan indexing or designating inscription 4 which in thepres ent instance is anumber. This type of filing appliance isextensively used by insurance companies, and a large number *of the envelopes 2 are used and filed away in several boxes or drawers. The usualtype of cont-ainerfor the envelopes is "a drawer such as illustrated,which includes a front wall 5, side walls 6 and bottom 7, .the envelopesbeing placed in the drawer endwise' and held in an upright position byan adjustable follower (not shown) common to filing drawers.

It frequently happens that an envelope is misplaced or improperly filed,and in order to locatethe envelope it is necessary to examine each ofthe envelopesin all of the filing drawers until the misplacedo'ne isfound.- Obviously, where-thenumber of envelopes runs into the hundredsof-thousands, the'searoh'for aniisfiled one :is often the cause of muchloss of time. His to overcome these'obje'ctions to thepresentfilingsystems and appliances that the present invention is directed. I

In accordance -with the inventio'mthe-envelopes'2 are divided-intogroups or -series. In the present embodiment of the inventionill-ustrated,'each group comprises one hundred envelopes,-and it ispossible to locate any of the one hundred envelopes of any group shouldit be-misplaced inany of the other 'groups. Itwould'be'possible to adaptthe invention to use with groups-of less envelopes than'one hundred, butin. practical operation of thefiling system it is not much of a-task toexamine one hundred envelopes to locate a misfiled one within theparticular group. 7 v

Adjacent one edge of each 'envelope in each group is formed an opening8, said opening representing the hundred digit of the envelope number,in'thepresent instance the 700 in theenvelope number 632799. Eachenvelope in the seven hundred group, that is each envelope numbered from700'to 799, inclusive, has a similar opening arranged in a positionon-the corresponding envelope identical with the opening 8011theothersQ. The envelopes in the eight hundred group have "a similaropening '9 which is arranged in -a slightly diiferent position upon thecorresponding envelope, so that when the-seven hundred and eig'llt imentioned group.

' hundred groups are .arranged in packed rela- V tions oi'the openingsinthe respective groups i "vided. with opening 10 which represents thethousandsgdigit in the envelope nurnber in; the present instance the 2in the envelope number. 632799,

represent'theytons of thousands and hundr'eds of "thousands digits,respectively.

'Afcoordin-gly, each envelope in; the groupfnninbered 6327004532799would have open th-eopening 10 in a different position from thecorresponding opening in the 7 group 032000. Therefore, when theivarious groups a of envelopes ;.are arranged-intheir proper qgroupfatleastoneof the openingsfot the the corresponding openings of the cardsin 1 i the. ronpin which it is n1isfiled,and should serted into all ofthe openings in the cards,

tionthe "openingsj8, l'0, lland 12 are lo floated on the envelope, andthe shape-of the zopenin'gsj is Salso "ifnmaterial;

' envelo 'ies are. filed in 'aydravver, 'is preferable to have theopenings arranged ;in f two vertical rows-whichare laterally"f-.'xsPaced. '.65

, tive envelopes"differently froin'the opening If15r .632890 would haveopeningslO', Hand 12 in'identical positions with the openings 10, jl1'and 12 in theother group, but the openings 8 and 9,in thetwo groupswill be in in a di fi erent position from the corresponding openings inthe group numbered 680000,

insertion of the rod 13 should be interrupted by theefirst card inanother group, as shownin Fig-ure-l, the rodjc'an' then be inserted fromthe otheriend of the pack generally, the front 5 .of thedrawer-ispreferably formed with four series of openings lettered A, B,C, D, respectively the openings being nun'ibered from OtO 9 1 1 eachseries. The series Acorresponds'to the hon tion, the openings 8 and 9are out ofalineinent, as-shown in Figure; 1; Sinnlarly, there isaborrespo'nding openingin each one hundredgroupof envelopes, the POSlheingfdifi erent. Each envelope .is also pro- 7 7 7 p numbers, theseries B corresponds to the tens The openingsfin' the hundreds di it.neXtQth'ousand group, thatis in the 3000 group; would be positioned 'on'the 'respec-'' series A is in alinenientjwith the-openings 12 'inthe-'cards-jot the 600000 group, while the opening 7 in the D series isin alinernent with the openings 8 in the cards of the seven 10. In asimilar manner, each 'envelopejis' tornledqvitli openings 11 and '12whlch .A, B, Ciand l) accordingly serve as indexes fontheinsertmn of theingsg 'loiil'l and-'12 in identical positions; V

misplacedeard, the operatorbeing first apthe groH-Dofenvelopes numbered632800? such as; an inscri drawer. Q a r I 1 If a search is to belna'de' fora misplaced card in the :drawer illustrated, thero'd 18 wouldbe successively insertedinto the open-V ing 7- 'of seriesfD, the opening2 otthe different positionsq Also, i the envelopes in the 640000 group?will have the opening '11 and the group numbered 631000 wouldhav theopen1ng'6 of the series A.

be utilized a special drawer for "the searching. operation,

oup "be improperly. ,filed' in another in their proper file drawer.inisiiled card will be'outof alineinent with a rod o'r wire, such asindicated "at 13, be in-' d, but a card which has its passage entirelythroughone of the openi y M611 in Figurelot the drawings. In case theUtilized hQ lp l' ffoln-ffllespirit t l c t any ings might hearrangedatthetops or hotn the second card which inight be niisfiledfi I V v p Iillustrated,- .Furthermore, the invention "is It is relativelyimmaterial in what posis c p ei use illconneiclion with filing systemsin which the filing inedia is other 'tgfh fh fOIDfJZLtiQIl cards in theappended claims is as shown, it, t d d media;

@Td faeilitatin the; location r i placed .card and in thefiling oftheenvelopes dreds of thousands digit in the envelope .of-thousands digit,the series G. corresponds to thethousands digit and the series Dto th-eaEach of the op'enings Qinf each of the-series is disposed in: positionto, aline' with "the corresponding opening in' the cards; forinstancethe openingG in' prised of the range of numbers ofthe envealopes inthe drawers by any suitable means, ption 14 on the frontof theafter which the envelopes would be replaced tom's ,ot the ca rds:insteadof at the sides as "Accordingly, while i have o'waanaae; scribedoneorefe-rred "embodiment "of the invention,'l do not desire'to be-understood, I:

hundred.group; The openings of the'series rod 13. forlocating a v Tseries C, the opening?) of the series B and .lt is not essential thatthe drawer =front as the" index-member, since a I separate box orcontainer 'constructed "siini-Y l'arly to. the drawer Icould. beutilized by successively removing all of the-envelopes from the filedrawers and placing them into,

It I will be noted that not only ,ldoesthe systen and appliance enable a'card'infthe .wrong place in the box or drawer to be been filed up}-side down or facingrearwardly may also be Any other desired system ofindexing than the number system-above described. nay be ofxtheinvention,and other indicators than theopen ngs 8,10, 11. and 12 mayals'obe i utilized, for instance notches. Also, the openthan cards-orenvelopes, and the terin-inp include Y all, adaptable, filing 1 evasesas limiting myself except as required by the following claims whenconstrued in the light of the prior art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. A plurality of series of information cards, each card of each serieshaving a plurality of openings, all of the cards of each series havingcertain openings located identically with each other and with crresponding openings of the other series and another opening locateddifferently from the corre spending openings of the other series,'sothat when said cards are placed in a packed relation all the openings ofall the cards in one series will be in alinernent with each other and atleast one opening of each card of each series will be out of alinementwith the corresponding openings of the cards of the other series,whereby said openings may serve to indicate different series and as asignal should a card of one series he misfiled in another group, eachcard of each series having a different designating inscription composedof a plurality of characters and each of the openings representing oneof said characters, the characters so represented being the same for allof the cards of the same series.

2. A plurality of series of informationcards, each card of each serieshaving a plurality of openings, all of the cards of each series havingcertain openlngs located identi- Cally with each other and withcorrespond-- ing openings of the other series and another openinglocated differently from an opening of the other series, so that whensaid cards are placed in a packed relation all the openings of all thecards in one series willbe in alinement with each other and at least oneopening of each card of each series will be out of alinement with thecorresponding openings of the cr ds of the other series, each card ofeach series having a different designating inscription composed of aplurality of characters and each of the openings representing one ofsaid characters, the charactors so represented being the same for all ofthe cards of the same series. an index member at the front of the packof cards and having a plurality of series of open ings each seriescorresponding to one of the openings in each of said cards and'eachopening in each of said series on the index member being in alinementwith one of the openings in a series of the cards and having the samedesignating character as that represented by the corresponding openingin the cards, and a. car-finding member to be,

inserted through said openings in said index member and thecorresponding openings in said cards to locate a misplaced card.

3. An information card file, comprising a plurality of groups ofinformation cards all ently than the corresponding indicators'of thecards in the other groups,each of said cards having a differentdesignating inscription composed of a plurality of characters, and eachof said indicators representing one of said characters, whereby saidin-' dicators serve to indicate different groups and as a signal shoulda card of one group be misfiled in another group.

l. A plurality of series of information cards, each card of each serieshaving a plurality o1 openings, allot the cards of each series havingcertain openings located identically with each other and withcorresponding openings of the other series and another opening locateddifferently from the correspending openings of the other series, sothatwhen said cards are placed in a packed relation all the openings ofall the cards in one series will be in alinement with each other and atleast one opening of each card of each series will be out of alinementwith the corresponding openings of the cards of the other series,whereby said openings may serve to indicate different series and as asignal should a card of one series he misiilcd in another group, eachcard of each series having a different designating number composed of aplurality of figures and each of said openings representing one of saidfigures, said cards being consecutively nuinerically arranged.

5. A plurality of series of information cards, each card of each serieshaving a plurality oi openings, all of the cards of each series having,certain openings located identically with each other and withcorresponding openings of the other seriesand another opening locateddifferently from the corresponding openings of the other series, so thatwhen said cards are placed in a packed relation all the openings of allthe cards in one series will be in alinement with each other and atleast one opening of each card of each series will be out of alinementwith the corresponding openings of the cards of the other series,whereby said openings may serve to indicate different series and as asignal should a card of'one series be misiiled in another'group, eachseries of cards including one hundred cards which have differentconsecutive designating numbers each comprising a plurality of 7 bet atth e front .of the pack of cards and ignafcing 'fig ure" as thatrepresented by the} having,a'plurality'of series of openings eachcorresponding opening in the cards, and a, j seriesic orrespondinge toone ofthe openings card finding member to be inserted through 1 I j in;each .of'sadid cards and each Qpening in saido penings-insaid indexmemberand the I ea chof said series onthe index member being:corresponding openings in said cardsto l0,-

' in falinem'ent withione of vthe openings in a c a te a misplaed cardi'series ofj t -he cards and having 'thesamedesf i f WILLARD

